DILI (27 Sept 2013) – The two-day AFC-AFDP Dream Asia CSR Seminar, hosted by Asian Football Confederation (AFC), Asian Football Development Project (AFDP) and the All India Football Federation (AIFF) supported by AFDP’s Official Partner PepsiCo ended successfully in New Delhi today.
“There is tremendous potential in South and Central Asia for both development through football as well as football development. Both streams are interconnected and that is why football associations, the private sector and NGOs working through football must join their efforts,” noted Prince Ali Chairman of the Social Responsibility Committee at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and Chairman of the Asian Football Development Project (AFDP).
“This seminar has been the perfect meeting place for all stakeholders to exchange their experiences for the first time and chart out the way forward for social responsibility in football in India and the region,” he added.
“AIFF continues to support AFC in all its endeavours. We would like to take help from AFC and AFDP regarding CSR,” AIFF General Secretary Mr. Kushal Das addressed the media.
“AFC and UEFA signed an MOU last year. We will assess how we can incorporate CSR in this agreement and in our work with the AFC,” said Peter Gillieron, Chairman of CSR & Fair Play, UEFA.
Speaking during a Panel Discussion on the new Government regulations on CSR, All India Football Federation General Secretary Mr. Kushal Das said: “To excel in a sport played by 209 countries of which for most it is the No 1 sport and for many the only sport, it is a challenge to excel.”
“So I invite corporate house to help us build the base of the pyramid which is essentially Grassroots and Youth Development,” he added.
Das was accompanied by IMG-R Representative Priti Srivastava, FICCI’s Rajpal Singh, and CEO AFDP Urs Zanitti on the dais.
‘Rajpal Singh said: ‘Sports can play a very important role in the society.”
Commenting on the CSR component of the new companies law, Prince Ali commended this new provision that elevates social responsibility in the corporate mindset.
“This is a great first step and we only hope that sport is incorporated as a CSR target area for indian companies. Through sport in general and football, in particular, companies can help develop and educate youth, empower girls, promote health and instill values of respect and coexistence in society,”noted Prince Ali.
The joint AFDP-AFC initiative saw the participation of international experts from UEFA, West Ham United, The British Council, World Vision, Royal DSM, Global Alliance for Nutrition and streetfootballworld.
Representatives from AIFF including General Secretary Mr. Das, I-League Committee Chairman and Member, AFC Social Responsibility Committee Mr. AR Khaleel, and also delegates of the National Football Associations from South and Central Asia Region of the AFC.
The recommendations from the seminar participants focused on three primary goals each with their own sub-objectives:
1. To develop a CSR Regional Hub (regional coordinator) for football in South & Central Asia mandated by the AFC with an objective to coordinate national football associations, national sport authorities/governments, national player associations, chamber of commerce, corporates, NGOs, foundations, local communities, the media, as well as a celebrity/figure heads.
a. AFC to provide a mandate and task-list for the hub with specific timelines.
b. Regional Hub to undertake extensive research/assessment in all the 13 MAs of South & Central Asia of the AFC and highlight the focus areas with regard to CSR in these nations.
c. Regional Hub to communicate an implementation plan to all respective MAs with specific objectives and timelines after the initial assessment.
d. Regional Hub to adopt a hybrid model on the lines of Private Public Partnerships.
e. The Regional hub shouldcoordinate monitoring and evaluation, review projects on an annual basis, set targets for upcoming terms, brokering and conflict resolution, as well as consolidation and dissemination of best practices.
f. AFC and AFDP to support NGOs through knowledge sharing and expertise to build capacity especially in fundraising and marketing.
2. To support the implementation of the AFC Child Nutrition Campaign at national and regional level as this is of particular concern to South Asia.
a. In addition to focusing on the first ‘1000 days’ of a child’s life the campaign should be extended to the bigger issue of optimal nutrition among children, adolescent girls, youth and mothers at large.
b. The campaign needs to be customized according to varying national nutrition priorities in the South & Central Asia region.
c. The campaign should include messaging targeted at the general public as well as vulnerable groups. Campaign messages targeted at the general public should be brief and catchy in order to create mass support and the enabling environment for governmental and corporate investment in nutrition.
d. Direct nutrition-specific and nutrition-sensitive programming in the sectors of health and nutrition, water and sanitation, agriculture and livelihoods as well as social accountability and advocacy.
e. The campaign should target players and participants in football that do not have the right awareness and education in nutrition. While the access to a balanced and right nutrition exists, players and participants do not gain from it because of lack of proper education.
f. Nutrition workshops should be conducted for national teams, national leagues, youth competitions, sport seminars and coaching courses/clinics.
g. Parents need to be targeted to influence the nutritional behaviour of the young kids and football players.
h. The campaign should create localised campaigns with national teams and domestic league stars to communicate the right messages around nutrition.
i. In addition to promoting the campaign at AFC’s competition platforms, domestic and sub-continent level leagues and championships could serve as communication vehicles for the messaging on nutrition.
j. The campaign should connect with national chambers of commerce to link with corporate partners.
k. Contextualised, cost-appropriate programming that is financially sustainable in the long term.
l. Cooperate with the media in promoting the message and linking football to positive nutrition messages.
3. To link football to prevention of issues, which are of primary concern in the South & Central Asia Region. These issues were identified as:
a. Women’s participation, education and empowerment through football. Through engaging women in football many other issues can be addressed including health, sexual and reproductive health, respect, gender equality, gender violence etc.
b. Child protection
c. Healthy lifestyle, non-communicable and communicable diseases
d. Use sport to promote active and healthy lifestyle as well as social and emotional development.
e. Peace, reconciliation and inclusion.
f. Forced migration and internally displaced people due to economic development.
g. Drug use and youth criminality.
4. Summary of the FICCI Session on CSR Policy as a part of the new Companies Act 2013
a. There was a comprehensive representation from FICCI, AIFF, Sports Law expert, Corporate (Reliance Industries Ltd.), AFDP and a football consultancy (Libero Sports).
b. The definition and the interpretation of the new law was discussed and while there is a specific directive it also is surrounded by a lot of ambiguity.
c. It is realised that there is a need to wait for some time before gauging the direct and the indirect impact of such policy after initial investments take place as a part of this policy within companies.
d. There is an optimism that this shall lead to higher spends on the CSR projects with sports but there is an equal concern that it would not be any easier to acquire needed funding by the sports projects with social focus. The companies can find an easier option to create their own foundations and trusts rather than outsource such initiatives.
e. FICCI is constantly having a dialogue with the government to include sports as a part of the 10 listed areas which fall under the purview of such investments by the corporate.
f. AIFF is also pushing for more clarity on the issue so that they can have meaningful dialogue with certain key groups who could be motivated to contribute to their developmental project around grassroots and academic.
g. Reliance Industries Ltd. believes that their contribution to the CSR has been existing as a part of their strategy and feel that this contribution could be more that the mandatory 2%. Hence, such regulation does not impact us directly and there is not major change in their strategy that is required.
h. AFDP suggested the projects to stress more on education and awareness around sports and social impact of sports so that there is a better understanding amongst the investors to understand the long-term benefits and returns.
i. Libero Sports India recommended the key stakeholders to focus on constructive creation of footballing projects along with corporate community rather than focus on business exchange through such initiatives. The investors need to feel that it is as much their responsibility to work on developing the project rather than expecting the football projects to provide them short-term deliverables.
